Spring Hours:
(April 5 - October 26):
Monday-Friday 10:00am-5:00pm,
Weekends 10:00am-5:30pm,
Holidays 10:00am-5:30pm Winter Hours:
(November- March):
Daily 10:00am-4:30pm Admission:
Adults $6.00, Seniors $1.25,
Children 3-12 $1.00
Children under 3 years are free.
(Same ticket allows for admittance to the
Tisch Children's Zoo) (212) 861-6030 or (212) 439-6500
The first Central Park zoo opened its doors
in 1864 giving it the distinction of being the oldest
city zoo in the country. The Arsenal, now a
learning center, housed many animals in
outdoor pens and in the basement. All in all
by 1873 there were a recorded 571 animals
collected by the Park from private donations.
Once a place of containment for helpless
animals where they languished in small cages
with concrete floors in the squalor of their
own urine and feces, the Zoo has been
transformed into a modern habitat.
Renamed The Wildlife Center, the Zoo is
more a refuge for animals than a prison.
Here under the watchful gaze of trained
keepers and naturalists the animals flourish
in habitats designed to create a home for
them away from their natural place of origin.
The Tropic Zone, the Temperate
Territory and
the Polar Circle are the three distinct
regions
of the Wildlife Center featuring animals from
various parts of the world.
